Michigan

At home in Michigan, Moritz Wagner keeps contradicting misconceptions

Updated on July 17, 2016 at 9:52 AMPosted on July 17, 2016 at 6:00 AM

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After sitting for much of his freshman season, Michigan forward Moritz Wagner broke out in postseason play to help the Wolverines through the Big Ten Tournament and in the NCAA Tournament.
(Kiichiro Sato | AP Photo)

ANN ARBOR -- The FIBA U20 European Championship began in Helsinki over the weekend. On the other side of the world, 16 countries sent their top young players to compete for an international crown.

For those involved, it's a big deal. A very big deal.

Moritz Wagner, meanwhile, was in Michigan. The 19-year-old could only follow along from afar. He passed on the chance to join the German team, opting to remain on campus for U-M's spring and summer academic terms.

For him, the decision was a big deal. A very big deal.

"I have a lot of pride in that (German team)," Wagner recently said. "But after last season, I just felt that I needed to stay here."

And by "stay," Wagner means "return." See, in early May, Wagner traveled back to Germany for nearly six weeks. The Berlin native visited his mother, father and younger brother, along with extended family and friends. He ate normal meals. He walked familiar streets. He was home.

It had been awhile. Wagner, a freshman forward at Michigan in 2015-16, moved to Ann Arbor nearly a year ago -- June 29, 2015. He made it back to Germany that August, but after returning for the school year, he hadn't been home since.

So when Wagner journeyed to Germany after the school year, some wondered what his next move would be. A developing post player with natural inside-outside skills, Wagner could have decided his college career was over. He could have used his U.S. basketball experience to leverage a few more dollars out of a German professional team -- perhaps ALBA Berlin, his old club -- and began his professional career.

That, at least, was a common perception. Wagner had those options -- a different set of circumstances than his U-M teammates.

That perception, though, according to Wagner, was a misconception.

"I mean, just because I'm from Germany doesn't mean that I want to go to Germany right now," he said. "Like, I chose this way for a reason."

While many see Wagner as an international player visiting college basketball, he sees himself as college basketball player who happens to be from Germany.

That's why he skipped the European Championship. That's why he not only returned this summer, but did so four weeks earlier than his teammates. When Wagner stepped back, he saw the resources allotted to him at Michigan and decided if he was going to put in work, he's best off putting in work here.

"Playing for my country is not something to take for granted and it was very hard for me," Wagner said. "But I just felt like I needed to prepare for next year. I have a challenge that's there to be more efficient and help the team a lot more next year."

Wagner doesn't think he provided that help last year. At the time, it weighed on him -- seeing his playing time vanish after breaking out for spurts in non-conference play. When league play began, he was down to a handful of minutes here and there. John Beilein benched him entirely in six Big Ten games.

Sitting in his warmups on those nights, all the obvious thoughts wafted through Wagner's subconscious. He didn't come all this way to watch basketball.

"At points, it was very tough and I was very tough on myself," he said. "All I could do was tell myself to go back to the gym every day, work, practice, and maybe it would pay off."

It did. Out of nowhere, after sitting him for the final three regular-season games, Beilein played Wagner in the Big Ten Tournament. He scored nine points and grabbed two rebounds in a win over Indiana -- the team's much-needed sales pitch for an eventual NCAA Tournament bid. Then Wagner played nine minutes against Purdue.

In the NCAA Tournament, Beilein gave Wagner 22 minutes against Tulsa, resulting in four points, eight rebounds and a win. Wagner played another eight minutes in a season-ending loss to Notre Dame.

"I proved it to myself -- not anybody else -- and learned that I can perform on that type of stage," Wagner said. "I learned a lot about myself in those couple of weeks."

According to Beilein, Wagner has ridden that momentum into the offseason.

"He's all-in with both feet, as much as I've ever had a kid," Beilein said. "He's bought into what he's got to do."

After entering the summer at 227 pounds, Wagner is up to 237. The same player that arrived a year ago at 210 is filling out and keeping on the weight.

"But it's not only the weight -- it's the explosiveness and learning how to use your body, being more efficient and establishing a certain physicality," Wagner said.

Wagner has to prove he can defend opposing centers. That's first on the offseason agenda. Even with all his natural offensive gifts -- of which there are many -- he can't be a physical liability under the basket.

If he is, Mark Donnal, last year's starting center for the Wolverines, will keep a stronghold on the job. Moreover, freshmen Jon Teske (a 7-footer weighing 245 pounds) or Austin Davis (a sturdy 6-foot-10, 240-pound bear) will gladly try to take any available time.

Nodding along, Wagner reiterated: "I just want to make sure I play as much as I can next year. I figured staying here was my best option for that."

A few weeks ago, Wagner helped Davis and Teske move into their dorm. The freshmen were out on their own for the first time. That weekend, Wagner stopped for a moment and thought, had it really been a year already? Not too long ago, it was Donnal and Ricky Doyle helping a wide-eyed Wagner unpack his bags.

Back then, no one was quite sure what to make of the German or what he was doing here.

A year later, Wagner now considers himself "one of the guys." Asked if he could end up being a four-year college basketball player, he shrugged, laughed, and said, "I mean, yeah, of course. I hope so."

At the same time, Wagner understood the question.

He's used to the misconception.

"I get it -- I definitely get it," he said. "I understand the idea, but one of the reasons I went to college is because I want to be a kid. I want to be a college basketball player and I have this opportunity now. I don't see any opportunity to miss that at all."